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Funding Gap 2005: Most States Shortchange Poor and Minority Students

The Education Trust analyzed school funding data by applying a widely used 40-percent adjustment to account for the additional costs of educating low-income students. When this adjustment is applied, the funding gap between high- and low-poverty districts grows to more than $1,400 per student, and the number of states with funding inequities increases to 38 states. Nationally, we spend about $900 less per pupil on students educated in our nation's poorest school districts than those educated in the wealthiest. Worst yet, in some states, this funding gap exceeds $1,000 per pupil.